About Us

Pilot Hotels was launched in 2018 with a clear vision and uncompromising mission: to create extraordinary boutique hotels in curated destinations for the most discerning international travelers. Pilot Hotels is a bold and ambitious brand, often creating new rules and always setting new standards. The team at Pilot is resolute in its dedication to crafting stunning design in historically and architecturally significant properties, preserving authenticity while layering in fresh design and delivering unparalleled service.

Tom and Marcy Holthus, Founders, have launched Pilot Hotels with a current portfolio of two boutique hotels: The Washington School House Hotel in Park City, Utah and the soon to be opened Hotel Château du Grand-Lucé in the Loire Valley, France.

Marcy, as the CEO and visionary, has a background in finance and real estate and a devotion for uncompromising design and historic preservation.

The spectacular Washington School House building was acquired in 2009 with a vision to craft a boutique, uber-luxe hotel creating an authentic experience in a fabulous historic building. It is located in Park City, Utah, at an elevation of 6000 feet above sea level in the Wasatch mountains and is a stones throw away from Park City Ski Resort.

An outstanding team was assembled, most with no hotel industry experience, to translate Marcy’s vision into the destination changing Washington School House Hotel. The hotel was launched in 2011 and instantly became a media darling and a beacon to the elite traveler searching for an authentic experience.

In 2017, the Holthuses purchased their second property, the incredible Château du Grand-Lucé in the Loire Valley, France, a French historic landmark which was being used as a private residence. Inspired by the possibilities and with unwavering enthusiasm, the team from Pilot Hotels is currently transforming the 260 year old castle into an over-the-top luxury boutique hotel – set to open in 2019. The Loire Valley, filled with chateaux from the reigns of Kings Louis XIV and XV, is known as the Garden of France. With the opening of the stunning Hotel Château du Grand-Lucé, Holthus expects to set a new standard for luxury hotels in the Loire Valley.

With the two hotels as the foundation, Pilot Hotels was established as a new brand for the informed and discerning traveler searching for absolute luxury in curated destinations. The concept is quite simple: a Pilot Hotel is the destination – wherever the location. It is the next standard in elevated luxury travel. Pilot Hotels allows the traveler to live like a local, or in the case of the Chateau – to live like a noble, yet be surrounded by unapologetic luxury and delivered unequaled service. Pilot Hotels will continue to grow its portfolio of high-end luxury boutique hotels with the expectation of adding five hotels over the next 10 years.

“The person who has lived the most is not the one with the most years but the one with the richest experiences” – Jean-Jacques Rousseau